Defamation and Online Harassment Laws in Austria

Austrian defamation law is written law, not common law. The Criminal Code (StGB, §§ 111-117) defines the offences against honour, and the Civil Code (ABGB) gives civil remedies: § 1330 covers damages for injury to honour and the spreading of false facts that harm someone's credit, income or career, and § 20 lets anyone whose personality rights are violated sue to stop the violation and remove its effects. The Media Act (MedienG) adds special claims against media owners for defamatory or privacy-invading publications.

Sources1Criminal Code (StGB) § 1112Criminal Code (StGB) § 1173Civil Code (ABGB) § 13304Civil Code (ABGB) § 205Media Act (MedienG) § 6

Defamation is a criminal offence in Austria. Accusing someone, in a way a third person can perceive, of contemptible traits or dishonourable conduct (üble Nachrede, § 111 StGB) carries up to six months in prison or a fine, rising to one year when it is spread in print, on broadcast media or in another way that reaches a broad public; insulting or mocking someone publicly or in front of several people (§ 115) carries up to three months or a fine. Offences against honour are generally prosecuted only at the request of the injured person (§ 117), who brings the case as a private prosecutor (§ 71 StPO). Knowingly and falsely accusing someone of an offence prosecuted by the state, or of breaching an official or professional duty, so that they risk prosecution (Verleumdung, § 297) is a separate crime outside the honour offences.

Sources1Criminal Code (StGB) § 1116Criminal Code (StGB) § 1152Criminal Code (StGB) § 1177Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO) § 718Criminal Code (StGB) § 297

Austrian law does not separate libel from slander. Civil damages claims must generally be brought within three years from when the injured person learned of the damage and who caused it, with a 30-year outer limit if those facts never became known (§ 1489 ABGB). The former one-year deadline for purely verbal insults (§ 1490 ABGB) was repealed with effect from 17 February 2024. Media Act compensation claims have a much shorter window: six months from first publication (one year for certain crime victims). Criminal liability for § 111 and § 115 offences generally expires after one year, or three years for defamation that reached a broad public (§ 57 StGB).

Sources9Civil Code (ABGB) § 148910DSA-Begleitgesetz, BGBl. I Nr. 182/2023, Art. 4 (repeal of § 1490 ABGB)11Media Act (MedienG) § 8a12Criminal Code (StGB) § 571Criminal Code (StGB) § 111

Austria does not use the common-law idea of defamation per se. The closest feature is that a defamatory factual claim under § 111 StGB is punishable unless the speaker proves it true (or, for statements not spread to a broad public, proves good reasons to believe it), so the burden falls on the speaker; truth cannot even be offered as proof for facts about someone's private or family life (§ 112). In civil law, § 1330(2) ABGB gives a claim for spreading false facts that endanger someone's credit, income or career when the speaker knew or should have known they were untrue.

Sources1Criminal Code (StGB) § 11113Criminal Code (StGB) § 1123Civil Code (ABGB) § 1330

Austria had no anti-SLAPP law in force at the time of review, although EU Directive 2024/1069 had to be implemented by 7 May 2026. On 21 October 2026 the Ministry of Justice published a draft bill (Anti-SLAPP-Richtlinie-Umsetzungsnovelle) amending the court procedure laws, for example to allow security for costs and damages in suspected SLAPP cases; its explanatory notes argue for applying the new rules to purely domestic cases as well. Public consultation on the draft runs until 10 November 2026, and the final law may differ.

Sources14Draft Anti-SLAPP-Richtlinie-Umsetzungsnovelle (ASRUN), Ministry of Justice, consultation draft15ASRUN explanatory notes (Erläuterungen)

Under § 1330(2) ABGB, a person harmed by false factual claims can demand a retraction and its publication. Separately, the Media Act gives anyone directly affected by a factual claim in a periodical medium a right to have a reply (Gegendarstellung) published free of charge, unless the reply is untrue or another exception applies (§§ 9, 11). The request must be made in writing (§ 12) and reach the media owner or newsroom within two months of publication (§ 11), and a daily medium or website must generally publish it by the fifth working day (§ 13).

Sources3Civil Code (ABGB) § 133016Media Act (MedienG) § 917Media Act (MedienG) § 1118Media Act (MedienG) § 1219Media Act (MedienG) § 13

Proving the claim true is a defence under § 111 StGB, and acting to fulfil a legal duty or exercise a right is a justification (§ 114). Under the Media Act, a media owner avoids compensation for defamation if the report was true, or if there was an overriding public interest and journalistic care gave sufficient grounds to believe it (§ 6(2)). In Lingens v. Austria (1986), the European Court of Human Rights held that politicians must tolerate wider criticism than private individuals and that value judgments, unlike facts, cannot be required to be proved true.

Sources1Criminal Code (StGB) § 11120Criminal Code (StGB) § 1145Media Act (MedienG) § 621European Court of Human Rights, Lingens v. Austria, no. 9815/82, judgment of 8 July 1986

Persistent stalking (§ 107a StGB) covers contacting someone over a long period by telecommunication or other means, using their personal data to order goods or get others to contact them, and publishing facts or images from their most private sphere without consent, in a way that unreasonably disrupts their life. It carries up to one year in prison or a fine, or up to three years if it lasts more than a year or leads to suicide or a suicide attempt.

Source22Criminal Code (StGB) § 107a

Section 107c StGB makes it a crime to commit an offence against someone's honour, or to expose private facts or images of them without consent, online in a way that is visible to many people over a long period and unreasonably disrupts their life; the penalty is up to one year, or up to three years in serious cases. Victims of online defamation or insult can ask a court to order steps to identify the anonymous author (§ 71 StPO), and in civil cases a court can, on request, issue a fast-track injunction without a prior hearing for serious online violations of personality rights that harm an individual's dignity (§ 549 ZPO).

Sources23Criminal Code (StGB) § 107c7Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO) § 7124Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO) § 549

Several provisions can apply to publishing someone's personal data. Stalking under § 107a StGB includes using a person's data to order goods or prompt others to contact them, § 107c covers exposing facts from someone's most private sphere online, and § 63 of the Data Protection Act (DSG) punishes using or publishing personal data that was obtained unlawfully or through one's job, with intent to harm the person or profit, with up to one year in prison or a fine.

Sources22Criminal Code (StGB) § 107a23Criminal Code (StGB) § 107c25Data Protection Act (DSG) § 63

Section 120a StGB punishes intentionally taking images of someone's genitals, pubic area, buttocks, female breast or the underwear covering them without consent, when the person had shielded those areas from view or was in a home or another specially protected room, with up to six months in prison or a fine; making such images available to others or publishing them carries up to one year. It is prosecuted only with the victim's authorisation. Sharing intimate images online can also fall under § 107c and § 107a. In civil law, § 78 of the Copyright Act (UrhG) bars publishing a person's image where it harms their legitimate interests, and § 7 of the Media Act gives compensation when media expose someone's most private sphere.

Sources26Criminal Code (StGB) § 120a23Criminal Code (StGB) § 107c27Copyright Act (UrhG) § 7828Media Act (MedienG) § 7